It is a goal of the New York City schools to provide all public school students a high-quality arts education. Students will discover the lifelong enjoyment and wonder inherent in dance, music, theater, and visual arts. They also will connect to arts institutions and organizations that exhibit and perform the arts, offer advanced study in the arts, and generate the many financially and personally rewarding jobs available in New York City’s arts-related industries.

The Department of Education supports universal access to arts education through the ArtsCount initiative, which tracks and reports student participation in arts education and holds schools accountable for meeting New York State Instructional Requirements for the Arts.

The 2006-2007 Annual Arts in Schools Report includes data about arts teachers, arts budgeting, space for the arts, partnerships with arts and cultural organizations, and parent involvement for elementary, middle, and high schools. The first Annual Arts in Schools Report was published in March 2008, and can be found on the ArtsCount webpage.
 

Subsequent annual reports will be published each year to help school administrators, parents, and students understand how their schools are progressing towards offering universal arts education to all students.

The 2006-2007 individual Annual Arts in Schools reports provide baseline information for arts education accountability at the school level, and can help schools identify areas of success and areas that need improvement. Individual school reports can be found on the "statistics" page of each school's website.

The Department supports increased quality in arts education through the curriculum and professional development for teachers of visual art, music, dance, and theater. Working with their partners from the cultural community, DOE staff have developed the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, preK-12, which outlines what students should know and be able to do in the arts at key grades and at critical junctures in their intellectual, physical, and emotional development The Blueprint provides teachers with a path to help them determine the work they should be doing in each art form. It also provides school administrators with tools to supervise arts teachers and recognize and share with parents the potential their children have for achievement in the arts.